A word about protein

The most common question vegans mostly encounter is how do you get your protein? There is this misconception among average people that meat equals protein thus if you do not have meat you lack protein.

In the first world nations where whole foods are available there are not many cases of protein deficiency among vegans whereas there are tons of issues related to eating animal products such as heart disease and high cholesterol.

Another question is how much of protein does one need? Americans seem to be obsessed with size and think the bigger their steak the better thus getting plenty of protein!

The Food and Nutrition board recommends .8 grams of protein for every kilogram of weight.

Another way to calculate is to take between 8-30% of your calorie intake from protein.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention you need:

Recommended Dietary Allowance for Protein

Grams of protein
needed each day

Children ages 1 – 3

13

Children ages 4 – 8

19

Children ages 9 – 13

34

Girls ages 14 – 18

46

Boys ages 14 – 18

52

Women ages 19 – 70+

46

Men ages 19 – 70+

56

To give you an idea a meat eater will get about 42 grams of protein from a 6 oz steak or 30 grams of protein from 3.5 ounce of chicken breast.

So where do vegans get most of their protein? Take a look at this chart and you see how easy it is to get protein on a Vegan lifestyle:

Protein content of 1 cup of cooked beans without salt

Grams of Protein

Lentil

17.9

Kidney Beans

15.3

Black Beans

15.2

Chickpeas

14.5

Split peas

16.3

Firm Tofu, raw, prepared with calcium sulfate

19.9

Another great source of Vitamin as well as omegas:

Protein content of 1 cup of nuts (not roasted and no salt)

Grams of protein

Almonds

30.3

Persian Walnuts

17.8

You can also get some protein from veggies such as peas, kale, broccoli, asparagus, and brussels sprouts.

Lets not forget Quinoa which is a super grain packed with protein.

So if we include grains, veggies, nuts and legumes in our daily diet we don’t need to worry one bit about how much protein we get.